Dickie Dunn wrote:- I like Engelland the forward a lot more than Engelland the defenseman (who I hated).

I said the same exact thing at the game last night, everyone around agreed as had noticed as well. He seems to have some OK talent at forward (a lot more than any of the recent memory goon forwards), hits and plays tough, and can fill in on D. Maybe a little bit of a Mike Rupp feel as far as a forward? Gritty...

shmenguin wrote:iginla fought horton pretty soon after we acquired him. it's a little revisionist to say that he never showed any heart on the pens. he still plays like a slug for boston, just like he did for us. i don't see much of a difference.

Agreed, didn't see much difference in his play. I thought he lagged behind the play quite a bit.

I mentioned this in the GDT, but after MAF made a terrible puck handling play, within the next 90 seconds he made two very aggressive plays. One was the poke check that was somewhere around the blue line (ok, my memory might exgaggerate), and then he was a step outside the crease a few plays later on a shot that ended up getting glass.

I'm not sure last year's Fleury plays with that kind of confidence after a mistake.

Dickie Dunn wrote:- I like Engelland the forward a lot more than Engelland the defenseman (who I hated).

I said the same exact thing at the game last night, everyone around agreed as had noticed as well. He seems to have some OK talent at forward (a lot more than any of the recent memory goon forwards), hits and plays tough, and can fill in on D. Maybe a little bit of a Mike Rupp feel as far as a forward? Gritty...

I definitely don't hate it, adds a ton more grit to what looked like a soft forward lineup to start the year

DropEmJayBird wrote:Let a season take its toll on Iginla, he'll be a half step slower come March/April.

Boston as a whole already looked slow.

They looked slow against us in the regular season last year too. That didn't matter in the playoffs.

I'm loving what I'm seeing from Fleury so far this year. It seems like he's playing with a lot of confidence and is rebounding quickly after goals and mistakes. He is much more positionally sound in the net so he doesn't have to spaz around to to make desperate saves.

DropEmJayBird wrote:Let a season take its toll on Iginla, he'll be a half step slower come March/April.

Boston as a whole already looked slow.

They looked slow against us in the regular season last year too. That didn't matter in the playoffs.

I'm loving what I'm seeing from Fleury so far this year. It seems like he's playing with a lot of confidence and is rebounding quickly after goals and mistakes. He is much more positionally sound in the net so he doesn't have to spaz around to to make desperate saves.

Last year we handled them in the regular season and then added a bunch of slow guys who made the team as slow as Boston.

If Megna can keep playing with this intensity and awareness, keep driving the puck to the net and reading plays like a 10 year pro, he'll be a better fit for the 2nd line than Jokinen or Bennett. Not everyone can play with Malkin (hello Iginla). And while Jokinen has that ability, he's too weak on the puck to get the most out of Malkin and Neal.

There was one play in the defensive zone where Megna beat out a Bruin to a loose puck, then dodged 2 forecheckers to skate it out of the zone. It was awesome, and the kind of play you'd only expect the upper echelon players on this team to make (Malkin, Letang, Martin, Crosby).

This team needed one young player to step up and take a role in the top 9. Obviously, it's early, but IF Megna can maintain that presence, this team suddenly has some decent depth up front.

I'd hoped Jeffrey could do that. But boy, he looks like he's playing afraid to make a mistake. I think it's time for a change of teams for him. Wish him the best wherever he goes, but his days are as a Pen are counting down fast. Would definitely rather keep Engelland around as Ian Moran 2.0.

I didn't really notice Iginla much other than three occasions: crossing-checking Crosby into the boards, whiffing on an open net from right in front, and scoring the PP goal late in the game. Sounds like about what he brought to the Pens last spring, but maybe including a little more feistiness. I suspect that come playoff time, he won't add much for them other than a big, right-handed shot on the PP.

-Impressed with the first period and the third period after the Pens got the lead. Really gave them nothing once up 2-1. They couldn't even get in the zone. Very impressive.-Everyone played well besides Letang. He lost a puck battle that lead to the first Boston goal. Got beat by Bergeron in the third and gave up another near breakaway in the third. -Not sure what all the Jeffrey hate is about after that game. I actually thought he played very well. I'd even go as far as to say better than Megna, who also played well. (I know few will agree with me there).-Secondary scoring came through. Malkin has to bury at least one of those first period chances. I thought he was going to use the move he used on Loungo in the shootout on his breakaway. -Sid seemed to get frustrated. Boston did a great job against his line. I didn't like seeing Boston get the D matchup they wanted against him almost every shift with Pitt at home. If they are able to continue to keep Sid's line in check I'd move Kunitz down with Malkin and make that line stronger. I'd replace Kunitz with Engelland, put him on RW and tell him his job is to make Chara's life hell. Dump the puck to his corner and hammer him over and over then be in his face every stoppage. See how he handles that.-Boston does a great job of getting traffic in front of the net and shots off from the point. Only problem is that's all they have if you play smart defense and don't give them odd man breaks. Bergeron beating Letang was the only skill created chance they got otherwise. It's the same thing over and over. Puck to the point, guys in front, shoot and hope. Something the Pens could do better in games where goals are hard to come by. Boston isn't a team that is going to come from behind too often though. Getting the lead is important. Patience is key.-That supposed Letang dive was a joke. If you want to see a dive in that game watch Marchand as the puck enters the zone shorlty before Bostons first goal. He was interefered with slightly and he went down like he was shot.-Iginla still sucks. He's got a shot and nothing else. Although he did look like he actually cared when he was pushing Sid from behind near the end of the game. I can't say I noticed that about him in Pittsburgh where his hits were more like love taps and even they only appeared to have been done because the coach said to finish all your checks. -Loved the smile on Borts face during that fight. The Boston player he skated by afterwards apparently didn't care for it.-Give Bylsma props for the system change that cut down on odd man breaks and the power play wrinkle last night that paid off with the first goal.-Boston is really good at face-offs. Their first line in particular is also very slow. They struggle with speed teams. It's why San Jose took it too them (even though they lost) earlier this year and why Toronto almost beat them in the playoffs.

On the ice, though, Button thinks Iginla had difficulty meshing his style of play with Malkin's.

Button noted Iginla is better when he's playing with a center that has the ability to play off of him, to hold the puck so he can find the soft spots on the ice and get open. With Malkin, though, the wingers typically have to wait for him to carry the puck into the offensive zone and get established there, and then there is no telling what he'll do next. It's part of his unique talent, part of what makes him so unpredictable.

Neal is probably the only player in Pittsburgh who has a sense of what Malkin is going to do. Kunitz has played well with Malkin as well, but mostly because he's playing a straight-forward, get-to-the-net, simple game and doesn't worry about what Malkin is doing.

Iginla was somewhere in between.

"When you watch Jarome play, he moves to spots and that's how he's dangerous," Button said. "I thought last year he became more of a post-up guy in Pittsburgh, waiting for the puck. When you become a post-up guy and everybody knows the puck is coming to you, it's easy to defend you."

Boston:

And compared to Pittsburgh, one of the major differences in why Iginla looks comfortable and confident on the ice is because of Krejci and Lucic. It's quite a change from playing with Malkin because Krejci is typically going to hit Iginla with passes in areas he wants to be in, whereas Iginla sometimes had to figure out what Malkin was doing before he could even attempt to get to those areas.

"Jarome has great instincts for getting open and Krejci is thinking about moving the puck," Button said. "Krejci is a guy that can hit a moving player. Krejci is going to play off of you. The other part of it is Milan Lucic is a very good playmaker. That benefits Jarome as well as the power game that Lucic brings."

Krejci and Lucic didn't have to adjust much to play with Iginla because of their experience with Horton. Iginla and Horton are power forwards who move well, find the soft spots and are dangerous when given some time and space.

"Krejci has got the ability to hold the puck just a little bit longer and that can spring you free if you're a power forward," McGuire said. "Lucic is a savage on the forecheck and he creates so much space because he can get in. People know that, so they back off because they want to get to the puck before he does. They cheat a little bit back so Jarome gets more room."

Another observation, Dupuis' defelection to Sutter on the goal was sick. I've noticed Dupuis looks a lot more effective playing on the 3rd line, after power plays and such; they always seem to have an effective shift.

I know it will never happen, but I'd like to see Bennett moved up to Sid's RW and Dupuis with Sutter. Not because Dupuis is ineffective, but because he brings more in a 3rd line role, whereas I think Bennett's puck skills would give Sid's line more options and take some of the possession pressure off Sid when matched up against a top shutdown force like Boston.

pcm wrote:Another observation, Dupuis' defelection to Sutter on the goal was sick. I've noticed Dupuis looks a lot more effective playing on the 3rd line, after power plays and such; they always seem to have an effective shift.

I know it will never happen, but I'd like to see Bennett moved up to Sid's RW and Dupuis with Sutter. Not because Dupuis is ineffective, but because he brings more in a 3rd line role, whereas I think Bennett's puck skills would give Sid's line more options and take some of the possession pressure off Sid when matched up against a top shutdown force like Boston.

I fully agree with the rest of your post but I refuse to believe Pascal freaking Dupuis intentionally deflected that puck to Sutter lol

pcm wrote:Another observation, Dupuis' defelection to Sutter on the goal was sick. I've noticed Dupuis looks a lot more effective playing on the 3rd line, after power plays and such; they always seem to have an effective shift.

I know it will never happen, but I'd like to see Bennett moved up to Sid's RW and Dupuis with Sutter. Not because Dupuis is ineffective, but because he brings more in a 3rd line role, whereas I think Bennett's puck skills would give Sid's line more options and take some of the possession pressure off Sid when matched up against a top shutdown force like Boston.

I fully agree with the rest of your post but I refuse to believe Pascal freaking Dupuis intentionally deflected that puck to Sutter lol

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who that was unintentional. If Crosby makes that play, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he meant to do it, but not Dupuis.